What other language of India, besides Hindi, would be fitting for the first indian-language edition of Shantaram? None other than Marathi of course, the one which features so loved by the characters of the novel, and one which will be soon available thanks to the efforts of translator Aparna Velankar.

A wonderfully insightful interview with Gregory David Roberts has been published on the great website dnaindia.com over the weekend.

Among the interesting clues given are that Gregory has now ‘just wrapped up the third book of my planned trilogy‘ (The Mountain Shadow) and that he is starting a production company to write for the big screen.

This is welcome news for all people waiting for the Shantaram sequel, knowing that now there should be very little delay in getting the next novel published, we should see it in stores by the third quarter of this year. Greg also indicates that the prequel to shantaram in the triology is already underway and being written! Interestingly absent from the discussion is any mention of the movie however, and besides Greg’s own work in the movie arena fans may or may not be dissapointed with the lack of news on this Mira Nair project.

I’m sure a Marathi edition of Shantaram is a must buy for any fan wanting a memento hailing to the book’s finest characters, but there’s no word yet on if it is available or where you can get a copy! Let us know in the comments if you find one, or post your pictures to the Shantaram Flickr group!

In a recent update to his personal website, Gregory David Roberts has released an eye-opening essay on the architecture of his novel Shantaram, which you can go and read by visiting Greg’s website at this link, or by downloading a more readable PDF version.

Of the most interesting revelations are the allegorical texts applied to the novel, and the application of no less than 22 layers to the structure of the novel. Some of these prove to be interesting for the fact that they tell just how Greg worked the multi-faceted parts of the novel together, using simple, but highly effective methods to engage the reader in the ‘exile experience’ that the novel explores. Greg further elaborated on the themes of the novel, and goes into detail on how the trilogy works a whole.

The surprising element of this essay is in fact that despite its revealing nature it doesn’t dampen or in any way remove the brilliance from the novel. Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.

As the New Kerala reports in their exclusive interview with the author, Gregory is keeping busy with a number of projects in the downtime away from the movie. Not least is the completion of his sequel to Shantaram, and also a Bollywood movie he scripted:

Roberts said, ”I am currently penning scripts both for Hollywood and Bollywood films.” When asked about his genre of interest, the writer, who ”is writing so much” replied, ”I have penned scripts ranging from the typical Bollywood romantic comedies to horror, drama and science fiction.” ”A Bollywood film, based on one of my scripts, might be out by the end of 2010,” he shared.

The website also confirms what we know about the movie being shelved, but interestingly notes the project could see the light by 2011 (we previously reported this date, but cannot confirm this is true in light of recent reports about the state of the movie).

There’s a little more insight over on the site, and we encourage you to go read the rest of the article now, as it’s a great read. The bicycle repair scheme sounds really wonderful!.

For fans of the movie, this comes as little surprise as we reported back in May that rumours has surfaced that Johnny Depp had stalled the production of Shantaram stating concerns over security. It appears that Mira’s attempts to steer the project back to filming in India were not as successful as she had hoped.

The Mountain Shadow

Note: the following dates are known to be delayed
Fans will just have to wait for the new book, The Mountain Shadow, showing as being published on amazon.com on February 4th 2012, in an ‘Export ed edition’ by Little & Brown publishers. On the UK and European amazon sites the date is set as 2nd September the same year (and the same publisher). Full details copied below:

Please bear in mind that dates indicated are probably not firm, but a guideline.

I think fans will be pleased at least with this news, in the knowledge that a new novel from Gregory David Roberts will take his storytelling in a new direction with at least a a few of the characters we knew so well from Shantaram.

That’s right folks, head on over to http://www.shantaram.com for the full rundown on what is new in the creative world of Gregory David Roberts. There are some very interesting additions including poems, essays, and commentary on a number of issues which Greg has provided in response to reader emails. Thanks goes to Greg for providing the new insights for his fans and readers. I’m always really interested to hear news from his quarter, and I think that he’s got to say is really very important. What about you? I’m still really looking forward to The Mountain Shadow, and hopefully we can all have that in our library soon also. My thoughts on the sequel are that we ought not to expect a real-time continuation of Shantaram, but more a progression in story-telling which no doubt comes from a writer’s evolution as an artist in their form. I think it will be special for different reasons from Shantaram, but these are only guesses. Feel free to let me know what you think the Shantaram sequel will be like in the comments below, or on our forum.

Gregory David Roberts is due to be interviewed on CNN’s TALK ASIA show this week. He’ll be sitting in with host Anjali Rao, to talk about his experiences of being an internationally-sought fugitive living in a Mumbai slum, to a celebrated author with Hollywood calling.